Queen Anne of Romania

Born Princess Anne of Bourbon-Parma on 18 September 1923, she came from one of Europe's oldest royal lines. In 1948 she married Michael I of Romania, but the timing was sharp: he had abdicated the previous year, forced out by the communist takeover. The crown was gone before the wedding. Still, she was known from that day forward as Queen Anne, a title without a kingdom. She spent decades in exile with Michael, far from Bucharest, holding a rank the world no longer recognized in any legal sense. She died on 1 August 2016, a queen by courtesy and a reminder that some names outlast the thrones t…